With the tremendous success of 2018’s Halloween, Michael Myers reclaimed his position as the foremost villain in the horror genre.
That film’s financial success led to the production of two sequels: 2021’s Halloween Kills and this year’s Halloween Ends, which is billed as the series’ final installment after 44 years. Even if this is the last Halloween film we ever see (which it isn’t, let’s be honest), we won’t be upset.
The final film in the Halloween series, Halloween Ends, was a fitting send-off for Jamie Lee Curtis’s legendary character, Laurie Strode.
The opening of Halloween Ends is superbly done. Corey (Rohan Campbell), a babysitter, watches a small child on Halloween 2019 while the boy’s parents go to a party. Corey and the youngster enjoy a night watching horror flicks together, but the evening takes a horrifying turn when the boy is killed in a freak accident and Corey is held responsible.
Laurie is now three years into the future in modern-day Haddonfield, where she is writing a book, living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), and genuinely relishing life. Since Michael was last seen four years ago (in Halloween Kills), he must have slain her daughter (Judy Greer).
Laurie wants to move on, but the town holds her responsible for the violence Michael created. Because of the town’s continued harassment of Corey, even after his acquittal for manslaughter, she decides to befriend him. They had both experienced tragedy after all. However, when some time has passed, Laurie recognizes in Corey’s eyes the same quality she had previously recognized in Michael’s.
The fact that Corey has begun dating Allyson adds to her concerns. As is tradition on Halloween night in Haddonfield, tensions rise to a breaking point as the town quickly descends into chaos and violence.
We weren’t expecting the movie to throw such a strong punch towards the end (Corey becoming a disciple of Michael’s), and while it worked out in the end, it was a risky move.
In the end, though, we think it was worth it. You’ll applaud one minute and gasp the next during Laurie’s climactic showdown with Michael, and the murders are memorable, Kyle Richards returns (again) as Lindsey Wallace, and there’s respect for the franchise as a whole (including some callbacks to Halloween III: Season of the Witch).
Halloween Ends is not the best installment in the long-running franchise, but it has quickly become one of our all-time favorites.
The Halloween movie is over and is presently playing in theaters and on Peacock.
